Person:William Simmons (32)

SIMMONS, WILLIAM B., farmer; P. 0. Butler. Mr. Simmons was born Aug. 19, 1820, on the northwest quarter of Sec. 15, Worthington Township ; he was the eldest son by a second marriage; his father, Thomas Simmons, was born in Westmoreland Co. Md., and at an early period of his life removed to Virginia; by occupation he was a farmer; his first wife was Ruth Flahart by whom he had seven children, two dying in infancy; his wife died in 1816; he afterward married Mary Piper, who bore him twelve children. William Simmons was married to Mary McClellan Nov. 11, 1841; his wife's birth occurred but nine days before his own; they had seven sons and five daughters, only three of whom are living. In 1850, he bought 80 acres in Sec. 28, for $900; afterward, 26 acres in the same section. He was so unfortunate as to lose his wife in 1870, March 14; July 14, 1873, he was married to Margaret Simmons. The 26th day of May, 1876, he and his son Stewart were washing sheep in the Clear Fork, near Independence; Stewart went into water twenty-two feet deep to bathe, after they had finished their work, when he was seized with cramps, and drowned; the following lines were composed by his father and are engraved on his tombstone in the Bunker Hill graveyard: "Stewart Simmons died May 26, 1876, aged 29 years 4 months and 28 days.

"Low down in the deep waters my life I give o'er,

But then I was arisen and carried to the shore,

Where means were applied my life to restore ;

But it was extinct and would never return to me any more."